Category Archives: Cars

Vw Type 34 razoredge Ghia sunroof motor shaft

Cars, VW type 34 Razoredge Ghia

Disaster! The flexible shaft coupler which joins the sunroof motor and gearbox has snapped, this 48 year old piece of rubber had perished and finally gave way whilst I was putting the sunroof back together.

Thanks to the sterling work of Lee Hedges at T34 World I learnt that there were three sizes of flexible shaft on a T34 Ghia and that mine is the 100mm version, while searching online for any equivalent part (unsurprisingly the T34 part is no longer available) I found a Porsche part for an early 911 which looks identical and reports to be 97mm so I can safely assume that this will fit fine however only being available in the us and having a hefty shipping cost I’ve decided to give fixing mine a go first!

I found some braided PVC hose which was the same diameter as the original rubber hose which when push fitted into the metal ends seemed very solid so having cleaned all the residue from the ends I cut the hose down to the correct length and glued it into them using some epoxy resin.

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This seemed to do the job fine and after being left to dry I fitted it up to the car, adjusted the sunroof clutch and tested it.

What with the reconditioned gearbox and new cables my sunroof now shuts smoothly and fully for the first time since I’ve owned the car!

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Since doing this I have actually found that Porsche part number 90156461506 sunroof shaft is a perfect fit and only cost around £15

VW Type 34 Razoredge Sunroof cables

Cars, VW type 34 Razoredge Ghia

This weekend I’ve finally I’ve gotten round to looking at the sunroof on my razor, I have dismantled the gearbox and sorted the clutch adjustment, dismantled the motor and serviced it now its time for the cables…

Whilst attempting to operate the sunroof manually I noticed that something was wrong with the orientation of the cable ends and that it was impossible for them to operate the roof correctly as they were backwards and on further inspection it turns out they are from a beetle and not a type 34, the T34 is much deeper and handed differently but with a little modification the beetle ones can be made to work fairly easily!

The First thing to do is to remove the ferrule from the end of the cable, To do this I clamped it in a vice and used a hacksaw to put a cut down each side of ferrule before using a pair of side cutters to clip it off, the cable should now just pull out (Try not to damage the little spacer piece as this makes the next step easier!).image

 

After this you need to turn the cable end round 180 degrees and re-ferrule it on, for this I used the little spacer and used a pair of mole grips to crimp on a 3mm steel wire rope end stop ferrule. You will also find the beetle cables are too long so I cut the cables down to 100cm and popped a ferrule on the end to stop it fraying.
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Finally put the cables back in the runners and you are done! the beetle cable end it a little shallower than the T34 and therefore doesn’t quite meet the sunroof itself but I have drawn up a longer sunroof pin and will have a pair made next week which will do the job nicely but for now I’m using an M5 Bolt  which works fine! image

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